Syrian tanks shell Damascus, journalist killed in Damascus raid

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Syrian forces killed a Syrian journalist sympathetic to the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad during a raid in the southern Nahr Eisha district of Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said.

Soldiers shot Mosaab al-Odaallah, who worked for the state-run Tishreen newspaper, at point blank range after they entered his home as they were conducting house to house raids in the district, they said.

With the restrictions imposed by Syrian authorities on independent media, the report by the activists could not be immediately confirmed.

The Syrian army deployed tanks on a ring road surrounding Damascus earlier on Wednesday and shelled southern neighborhoods where rebels operate, in the heaviest bombardment on the capital since the army reasserted control last month, residents said.

At least nine people were killed in the shelling, which was accompanied by an aerial bombardment, on the Kfar Souseh, Daraya, Qadam and Nahr Aisheh neighbourhoods, they said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 3 people were killed in car bomb blast in Damascus; while opposition fighters stormed a security headquarter in the east of the country amid shelling by regime forces targeting several regions.

The observatory noted that clashes erupted in the surroundings of the military airport in al-Mezze.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that the Israeli authorities freed the “dean of the prisoners Sidqi al-Moqot” after 27 years in prison.

International positions

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stressed his country’s determination to reach a political transition in Syria, noting that France has sent non-military equipment to protect and contact the opposition.

For the full LBCI report, watch the video above.

Syrian tanks shell Damascus, journalist killed in Damascus raid

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